NASA Detects Mysterious Signals from Distant ‘Super Earth’ Exoplanet
NASA Discovers Mysterious ‘Super-Earth’ TOI-1846 b Emitting Strange Signals
NASA has identified a puzzling “super-Earth” named TOI-1846 b, located 154 light-years away, which emits a repeating signal detected as dips in its host star’s light. Twice Earth’s size and four times as massive, this planet orbits a small, cool red dwarf star every four days. The signal was first spotted by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in March and later confirmed using ground-based telescopes.
Unique Characteristics
TOI-1846 b occupies the rare “radius gap”—a category between rocky planets (like Earth) and gas-rich giants (like Neptune). Despite scorching surface temperatures of 600°F, scientists speculate it may retain water in the form of a solid icy layer, shallow ocean, or thin atmosphere. A dense rocky core likely anchors its structure.
Lead researcher Abderahmane Soubkiou emphasized the collaborative validation process: “We used TESS data, ground-based photometry, high-resolution imaging, and spectroscopy to confirm TOI-1846 b’s existence.” The planet orbits its star 10 times closer than Mercury does the Sun.
Red Dwarf Host Star
The host star is a red dwarf, roughly 40% the Sun’s size and mass, with a temperature of 6,000°F. Such stars’ faintness forces planets into tight orbits for warmth, making transits (when planets pass in front of the star) easier to detect. Since its 2018 launch, TESS has flagged over 7,600 transit events and confirmed 630+ planets.
[Image suggestion: Artist’s concept of TOI-1846 b orbiting its red dwarf star.]
Extreme Conditions and Future Studies
TOI-1846 b is likely tidally locked, with one side perpetually facing the star and the other in darkness. This temperature divide might allow water to exist in shadowed regions. NASA plans to deploy the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to analyze the planet’s atmosphere for water vapor, methane, or carbon dioxide.
Ground-based efforts, like Hawaii’s Gemini Observatory, use the MAROON-X instrument to measure the star’s subtle wobble caused by the planet’s gravity, refining mass estimates and hunting for hidden neighboring worlds. Intriguingly, orbital shifts hint at a second planet possibly lurking farther out in a cooler, habitable zone.
[Image suggestion: TESS satellite in orbit, scanning the sky.]
Broader Implications
TOI-1846 b joins another recent discovery—TOI-715 b, a super-Earth 137 light-years away—to help scientists unravel why some planets lose atmospheres while others retain them. Red dwarfs, making up 75% of Milky Way stars, could host countless habitable worlds. Studying these systems brings us closer to answering whether life exists beyond Earth.
[Image suggestion: James Webb Space Telescope focused on distant exoplanets.]
This discovery underscores the importance of missions like TESS and JWST in decoding the mysteries of our galaxy’s most common stars and their potential to harbor life.
